A love/hate thing

[Outdoorsman]

I love this photo and I hate it.
I love the subject. It was the first time I've photographed sea otters. And to catch a mother and young, too! I was about 15 or 20 feet away and they didn't seem to care a bit about my being there. It was a very cool moment and I was glad to get a few shots to remember it with.
I hate this photo because of the lack of sharpness and the exposure. I was using a little of the digital zoom end of a compact digital, which explains the softenss. I ran it through Noise Ninja and tried to get the highlights toned back down, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?
This is my first post for critique in quite some time, but don't worry, I like critiques with the sugar coating left off... thanks!

[jar_e]

Other than the softness, I like it. Nice clean colors and an interesting subject. Well done,

Jared

[Furchin]

I really like the texture of the water in the background. The foreground thing the otters are lying on is un-interesting and not sharp enough for me to even tell what it is, so I find it distracting. I'm also not a fan of how the two otters blend together, but I think there would be much potential in this scene from a slightly different viewpoint -- I very much like how the back of the horizontal otter contrasts with the water, and a perspective change to maximize the length of the water contrast would probably help.

[Seb]

I love this photo and I hate it.
I love the subject. It was the first time I've photographed sea otters. And to catch a mother and young, too! I was about 15 or 20 feet away and they didn't seem to care a bit about my being there. It was a very cool moment and I was glad to get a few shots to remember it with.
I hate this photo because of the lack of sharpness and the exposure. I was using a little of the digital zoom end of a compact digital, which explains the softenss. I ran it through Noise Ninja and tried to get the highlights toned back down, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?
This is my first post for critique in quite some time, but don't worry, I like critiques with the sugar coating left off... thanks!

Hey Outdoorsman,

I'd say that this call for a reshot (which obviously is impossible unless you happen to run on these two in the same posture.....). I see why you were drawn to shot this. You have a good subject and a decent composition. However, the lack of sharpness ruin the shot I see it. Also, I would personally try a lower point of view. I am not sure to which extend it would/wouldn't work but I think that it worths a try.

regards

Seb

[SMOKEYmtbr]

I don't know jack about photos but I promised to critique as many as I post. I like the subject. Perhaps like the other dude said, a lower point of view would have made the animals fill the screen better and have more of that cool water in the shot as opposed to that hard to distinguish brown mass they are on.